shrapnel and flames and you're alive underneath the gunshots
by OperaEagle IcelynLacelett
Summary: In a country called Vongola, the President loses his last heir when the Millefiore move. Tsuna is terrified when his name is drawn for a draft. Reborn struggles to find the new heir Elements and train them all in time before reality hits. And there is no universe where Tsuna and his family have fought for and defended each other with more desperation, hope, and love. WarAU sl upds


A/N: Hello...!

Yeah, yeah, I know, I have three stories I need to be continuing already. But... this one sunk its teeth into me and wouldn't let go. This won't be updated until I have a substantial amount of it done, but I wanted to post the prologue just to get it out there. I'm not going to put a date up because I guarantee I will disappoint you.

A/N and info at the bottom.

-.-.-.-

shrapnel and flames and you're alive underneath the gunshots

Prologue

-.-.-.-

 _Hello. Welcome to the Morning, Vongola! radio show. I am Rob Spindle Vongola, and I'll be your host today. I have only one topic to briefly touch on. React however you wish, my fellow citizens. After decades of peace under our great Vongola leaders…_

-.-.-.-

 **Ten months and four days before:**

The silhouette of a man in a chair spills out over the window. He is tall, strong, old, wise; he is a man with the burden of many lives on his shoulders.

A phone suddenly vibrates on the cherrywood desk. The man looks at it with anticipation, the set of his shoulders (the burden on top of them) shifting and uncertain. He picks it up with a deep, silent breath, trepidation curling in the air around him.

He clears his throat. "Yes? Oh, Reborn."

…

"They… what? Massimo? Repeat that."

…

"Oh. Hang on. Give me a minute."

The man turns away from the phone, putting it down as he looks out the window with a forlorn expression. He bangs his fists against the wall and turns to slide down it, face protected in his hands, body wracked with sobs and shoulders crushed now under the weight of the world. After five minutes he gets up, collects himself, and pushes himself up and back to the phone, despite something deep inside him breaking.

"Okay, well, that's that. I guess we have no choice now. There's no way I can overlook that."

…

"I know there aren't nearly enough people in the military to deal with this. It is really unfortunate, but we're going to have to call a draft. I… really wish I didn't have to do this. Dang it, why did this have to happen when I'm in office?" ( _Why Massimo? Why me, why the last of my sons?_ ) implied heavily, the accusations thick in his throat.

…

"I know, I know. Anger won't help anything. I just… I'm too old to deal with this. Even when I saw the signs, I blinded myself to them, hoping it wouldn't happen. The 9thVongola squad isn't strong enough anymore to deal with threats of that level."

…

"Yes, I should have gotten myself an extra heir long ago. But… I was grieving, not ready to face it yet. I didn't think they'd be this audacious, but I should have expected it. The… other deaths seemed suspicious, but who wants to investigate the deaths of their sons?"

…

"We have to start from scratch now. I want you to be on the lookout for someone worthy. Would it be too much to ask of you?" (look out and perhaps a bit more) implied.

…

"No, I'm not doubting you, I would never do that."

…

"You're always three steps ahead of me." a slight chuckle. "Well, you know what you have to do. If there's anyone I'd like to have training my heir, it would be you, Reborn. I place the future of Vongola in your hands."

…

"You've earned my trust many times over. I trust you with my life."

…

"That may be, that may be. …Thank you. For telling me as soon as you received the news."

…

The line goes dead, and the man looks at it. He is crying again.

After a while, he lifts the phone just used again with determined, melancholy eyes.

…

"Hello. Iemitsu? You know the situation, correct?"

…

"Good. I want to appoint a draft."

-.-.-.-

 _War is brewing. No, it is already upon us. Things are so desperate, the President has called a draft._

-.-.-.-

So I read a KHR one-shot called The Rings, where Tsuna and his Guardians are kidnapped for their Flames and put into underground fighting. The goal is to collect a whole 'set' and take them to the Colosseum to gain glory and honor. I kinda really wanted to write a more extended version, because I really love BAMF!Tsuna and 10th Gen and I really love it when they get all protective of each other, it's the best. And I love it when they're just like family. So this is my compromise and I hope you like it. I look forward to writing it immensely.

This is a KHRSoldier!AU. Modeled after the World Wars, but I don't enough know enough to really write in them so a random, made up war, or AU!WWs with Vongola and allies as one side, Millefiore as the other. They do use Flames. Because the bonds of soldiers are closer than blood brothers. Basically a self-gratification thing, to see the KHR characters grow closer to each other, forge unbreakable bonds, while playing with their mental states. This is the absolute perfect AU for a sadistic author like me.

Yup, so this will be basically my angst dumping ground. I will try to replicate war as close as I can and have seen it portrayed, but /I have never seen actual war/, so any error in presenting it will just be there unless you tell me something is wrong and how to correct it. This will have some events from the Future Arc, but I am not attempting to take that arc and turn it into a war. This will have a lot of original events.

Characters will start out in character. Then they will shift, because that's what happens when you are witness to traumatic events. I challenge me to make the changes as natural as possible and I challenge you not to whine about it. :).

Tsuna is going to be the person we follow most of the time, but we'll see what's going on with other characters shortly.

The rating will go up to M later because of blood, guts, and war, but there's nothing nearly that bad here.

And the prologue is set in a different style than I will use later. I just liked it a lot.

Present tense will go away for the rest of the scenes set Before. Then we'll use it again. (I thought it gave a really good effect to this scene.) Because that's the tense that gets the most heartaches, I think.

I want heartaches. I want you sobbing so hard snot gets on the computer. I want to chop your soul into tiny little pieces that will never see the light of day again. I want to beat you up until you're down and then leave you, bloodsplattered, alone, and wanting to crawl back for more. This will not be a happy story. Heads and psyches will be messed with and demolished. Along the way, I'll do all of that to myself, and we will forge unbreakable bonds not unlike the ones in Tsuna's future. Because the best stories, in my opinion, are the ones that do this to you and then leave you craving more and hating the author at the end. You with me?

Alright. Let's go.

~OperaEagle IcelynLacelett


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